Apparently, consumer electronics brand Sanyo isn't content with dominating the lithium ion market. Now the company has announced that it is building entire homes equipped with its li-ion batteries. The recently announced Sanyo Homes division of the company plans to start marketing homes outfitted with its batteries for back-up power tomorrow.
The Japanese homes, which will also come with 3.78kw solar system, are equipped with 1.57kw Sanyo batteries to store excess solar power for use during the night or cloudy days. Sanyo's houses also come with heat-pump water heaters and 10 LED light fixtures that run on direct-current power to cut down on energy loss.
The Sanyo houses won't be cheap--the company expects that a 132-square-meter home will cost $355,000 ($62,000 more than a conventional home of the same size), but government subsidies and energy savings should help residents recoup much of the cost. No word yet on where in Japan Sanyo will build the homes, whether they will be made to order, or how many homes will be built each year. But this is certainly the first time we've heard of an electronics company entering the green home business--can it be long before more solar panel and lithium-ion manufacturers join in?
Climate change has increased the unpredictability of weather patterns, and as residents of the Western U.S. know, that means a jump in the number of forest fires. In the past year alone, 76,000 individual fires have consumed 5.8 million acres, according to the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center. We might not be able to stop fires from starting, but researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), think they can at least provide us with better information once fires have been ignited.
At the moment, smoke pattern analysis is limited to front-line reports, low-resolution satellite images, and weather data that gets updated every six hours. But by using IBM InfoSphere Streams (technology that analyzes information from a stream of sources), researchers hope to cull data from already-existing surface, aerial, and satellite sensors to identify the progression of wildfires, to model fire and smoke behavior forecasts, and to issue real-time forecasts for firefighters. UMBC researchers will also use servers to process massive amounts of smoke plume models for predictions on where and when fires will spread. Such information could be invaluable for anyone living close to the fires -- more accurate smoke and safety alerts could help people get out of the way faster.
It will presumably take time for the UMBC researchers to figure out whether their research is effective, but if it is, residents of fire-prone areas can at least cut down on smoke inhalation, and maybe even on loss of property.
Earlier this week we designated Hara as one of our 10 green startups to watch, and now the company has hit it big with a deal with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The environmental and energy management software startup was chosen by the $30 billion media company to assist in its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2010.
Hara's software tracks use of resources like electricity, gas, chemicals, and gas, and compares it to outputs of greenhouse gas, solid waste, and waste water from more than 1,000 objects (i.e. trucks and computers). By identifying the low-hanging fruit, or the easiest ways to cut down on waste and energy use, Hara's software allows companies to cut emissions quickly. The software also identifies long-term goals that require more work.
So why did News Corp choose Hara? The company has plenty of competitors in the software as a service energy management space--Enviance, IHP, and Enablon, to name a few. But according to Vijay Sudan, the Manager of Energy Initiatives at News Corp, the company chose Hara because of "the breadth and depth of the Hara solution--which we expect will take us far beyond carbon accounting and help us plan and implement energy reduction strategies while reducing carbon emissions."
News Corp isn't alone in trusting Hara's software. The startup has also signed deals with Coca-Cola and the city of Palo Alto, which expects that the software will help it cut $2.2 million in waste and energy costs. And for a multi-billion company like News Corp, savings will probably be much higher.
When I first learned about GoodGuide last March, I was excited at the prospect of a Web site that lets consumers get detailed environmental, health, and social info on more than 50,000 products and companies. Then came the obligatory iPhone app to let people quickly get the scoop on orange juice brands and cleaning supplies while standing in the supermarket. And now GoodGuide has announced its most exciting innovation yet: an updated iPhone app that scans barcodes for health and environmental ratings.
The process is simple. You just hit the scan tab on the app, point the phone at a product's barcode, and voila, instant product ratings on baby shampoo, yogurt, and everything in between. So even the laziest among us have no excuse to slack on social responsibility. And did I mention that the app is free?
If you don't have an iPhone, GoodGuide offers a text messaging system. A text to "41411" saying "gguide shampoo," for example, will tell you that Tom's of Maine, Burt's Bees, and Nurture My Body are the top scorers in the category.
GoodGuide's product rating algorithm may not be foolproof, but it's pretty reliable--the company takes into account health performance (cancer risks, reproductive hazards, skin and eye irritation), environmental performance (emissions, natural resource impacts), and social performance (diversity, compensation, working conditions). Such ratings are difficult to assess for companies that remain mum on internal practices, but a lack of transparency is usually a bad sign anyway. And until another organization comes along to challenge GoodGuide's work, the barcode scanning iPhone app might be worth a download.
The Chevy Volt is an electric car plagued by nagging problems, with rumors as late as June that the vehicle might not even make it into production. But even as GM reports losses of $1.2 billion, the company wants us all to know that the Volt is on track for its November 2010 release dates--and most of the car's kinks have already been worked out.
Among the Volt engineers' biggest challenges: cutting down on road noise in electric mode, lengthening battery life, and making sure the Volt's battery could still run in extremely hot and cold climates. GM is so confident that its new batteries are up to snuff that it believes it will have big a competitive advantage over other EVs. That's a surprising amount of bluster for a company that was berated by the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry earlier this year for being a whole generation behind Toyota on green powertrain development.
Admittedly, GM still has some work to do before the Volt can go into production. The Volt's engineering team is still trying to figure out the optimal size for the Volt's fuel tank, and the vehicle's 440-pound battery pack is a little heavier than GM would like. And of course, the Volt's $30,000-$40,000 price tag could use some work as well. But if a major auto company can actually make a decent product with the government's stimulus funds, we're all for it.
Carbon offsets have always been controversial, mainly because it's difficult to verify their reliability. Chalk up Responsible Travel, one of the first travel companies to offer carbon offsets to customers, as one of the biggest skeptics. The company, which has been offering offsets for flights since 2002, has cancelled its program because it believes offsets actually just encourage people to consume more.
Responsible Travel realized just how ludicrous the offset industry had become after learning about carbon offsets being offered by helicopter tour operators and private jet companies. Of course, that makes no sense. Offsetting carbon use from a private jet may make a customer feel good, but it ignores the fact that taking a 200-person would save more CO2 outright.
At the same time, offsets in the airline industry commonly come from tree-planting projects that can take decades to start absorbing CO2. Customers don't often realize that their offsets may not kick in immediately--another troubling part of the industry.
While Responsible Travel may have given up on offsets, the industry is still plugging away. San Francisco International Airport even installed an airport carbon offset kiosk recently. The offsets, provided by carbon firm 3Degrees, come from a local forest management program. This is a not a bad thing--SFO's kiosk gets its offsets from a reliable firm--but the industry will have to start teaching consumers that a carbon offset isn't a license to expend more CO2.
The Cleantech Open has long been a breeding ground for successful startups, including Adura Technologies, GreenVolts, and Cool Earth Solar. So we should all probably keep a close eye on EcoFactor, this year's National Prize Winner. The startup, selected from 12 finalists in the Cleantech Open's business plan competition, has developed a personal residential energy management system for heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation. In other words, it's an intelligent HVAC system.
As we've discussed in our previous coverage of EcoFactor, the system works in tandem with a wireless thermostat rigged up to a DSL or cable box that sends weather information. EcoFactor then changes the indoor temperature based on weather patterns, set parameters, and past thermostat usage. The system is so effective that EcoFactor claims it can save 20 to 30% on HVAC usage.
Now that EcoFactor has won the Cleantech Open, it will a prize package worth $250,000, including $100,000 in seed capital. It's not enough to send EcoFactor to the big time, but it's enough to get the attention of investors. Also be on the lookout for runners-up Alphabet Energy (waste heat recapture) and MicroMidas (converts raw sewage into biodegradable plastic).
As utilities scramble to reach emissions targets with massive renewable energy projects and smart meter rollouts, it's important to remember that community-owned renewable energy is a viable--and sometimes better--alternative. And now community energy is getting some attention as the East Coast's largest community wind project, located on Maine's Fox Islands (Vinalhaven and North Haven), launches.
The Fox Islands Wind Project consists of three 1.5 MW wind turbines that are expected to generate 11,605 MWh of electricity--slightly more than the small islands (combined population: 1,600) need. The turbines weren't cheap, but the islands secured a $10 million loan from the U.S. Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service along with a tax equity investment from Portland's Diversified Communications. Once the loans are paid off, the turbines are expected to significantly lower electricity costs--a benefit that homeowners often never see from large-scale projects.
Community wind power is a growing phenomenon in the U.S., with another $40 million project announced in Minnesota earlier this week. It's a trend that will most likely continue to develop as communities tire of waiting for utilities to construct mega-projects and local governments look for new ways to increase tax revenue.
Say what you will about Wal-Mart's tendency to crowd out mom-and-pop stores, it's hard to begrudge the company for its sustainability efforts. In the video below, we see that Wal-Mart's deli pizza boxes are part of a closed-loop cycle that uses retailer's boxes to make new ones, saving 40 million gallons of water and 8,600 tons of solid waste.
Wal-Mart's pizza box effort is just a small part of the company's sustainability initiatives. The big box giant is also working on a sustainability index that will rate and help the company choose suppliers based on greenhouse gas emissions, waste reduction targets, and water use. So suppliers that develop closed-loop projects will theoretically get more business from Wal-Mart.
For more info on Wal-Mart's greening, check out these videos from the company's recent Sustainability Milestone Meeting.
Monsanto's genetically modified (GMO) soybeans have frequently been vilified over the years. The soybeans, protesters say, require too many pesticides, see lower yields, and could be responsible for the growth of resistant weeds. Now Monsanto appears to be emerging from the shadows of its nasty Big Ag reputation to do some good in the form of GMO soybean plants that contain omega-3 fatty acid-boosting oils.
Omega-3 fatty acids, known to cut the risk of heart disease, are present in fatty fish like sardines, albacore tuna, mackerel, and herring. Non-fish eaters miss out on omega-3's heart healthy benefits, and fishophiles are warned to limit their intake because of the high levels of mercury and other contaminants in fish. Since Monsanto's soybeans are present in everything from breakfast bars to salad dressing, the benefits of omega-3 could easily extend to anyone who eats food from the grocery store. The soybeans could even take the pressure off dwindling fish populations to provide us with heart-healthy fatty acids.
The soybeans need to be approved by biotech regulators at the Department of Agriculture before they can be produced in the U.S. Once they're out in the marketplace, Monsanto expects that average levels of omega-3s in the U.S. population will rise, potentially lowering the overall incidence of heart disease. And since heart disease is the top cause of death worldwide, that's a big deal.
Still, it's difficult to say conclusively that the benefits of Monsanto's soybeans--whether or not they contain omega-3s--outweigh the consequences. As mentioned previously, the company's GMO soybeans have caused a jump in the amount of pesticides used worldwide. These pesticides provoke the growth of herbicide-resistant "super-weeds" that lower yields and increase costs. But can a price be put on keeping the general population just a little bit healthier? It's a debate that may never see a conclusion.
When I first learned about 
